The World Cup is the second most important competition in the annual international wrestling calendar. The invitees are the 10 top teams from the previous year’s World Championships, the most important competition on the calendar.
The results of this year’s freestyle World Cup were unchanged from last year, with the following ranking: Russia; Iran; Azerbaijan; Uzbekistan; Cuba; Ukraine; Hungary; Kyrgyzstan; Georgia and Bulgaria.
It is worth noting that six of the top 10 were formerly part of the Soviet Union and three others were part of the Soviet bloc, leaving Iran as the sole team not to come out of the old Soviet system.
In the World Cup, the 10 teams are divided into two groups, with each group playing a round robin. The top team from one group then faces the top team from the other group to decide the 1-2 ranking, while the second placed teams from each group play against each other to determine the 3-4 ranking and so on down the list.
With seven weight divisions, each team faced 28 matches in the first round. Iran won 20 of its 28 matches, defeating Azerbaijan 4-3, Hungary 6-1, Georgia 5-2 and Cuba 5-2.
Over in the other group, Russia was totally dominant, winning 27 of its 28 matches.
In the finals, Russia won five of its matches against Iran. The two Iranian winners were Mostafa Mohabbali Hossainkhali at 66 kilograms and Ehsan Amini at 84 kilos.
The two-day event was held in Makhachkala in southern Russia, so the host prevailed. Last year’s World Cup, when Russia also topped the competition, was held in Moscow.
Last month, Iran came out first in the World Cup of Greco-Roman wrestling.